GNH Lumber & Home Legacy of the Catskills

Spartan Strong News: Winter weather and safety reminders

0
Share

By District Superintendent Michael Bennett

District Superintendent Michael Bennett shares information on winter weather and school closings and delays. Courtesy of Greenville Central School District

For Capital Region Independent Media

As winter approaches, I wanted to provide a reminder of winter weather practices, as well as an update on our safety drills. 

  • Deciding on a Delay or Snow Day

In the event of winter weather, I’m usually up around 3:30 a.m. to assess conditions. This includes watching local weather channels, communicating with superintendents from surrounding districts, and talking with our transportation supervisor who stays in frequent contact with the town and highway departments. Our district poses a unique geographical challenge — it encompasses residences across 135 square miles and over a 1,000-foot difference in elevations. While the weather may be less severe in the town of Greenville, in places like the hilltowns the roads may be impassable. 

In making the final decision to delay or close school, we consider the entire geographical area of our district. With that being said, if you don’t notice poor road conditions near your house, just remember that elevation plays a big role in these decisions and it was likely the road conditions in the hilltowns that led to the delay or closure.

  • Communicating with Families During a Delay/Snow Day

As soon as I’m aware of the possibility of a delay or snow day, I contact our district office team who remains on standby. Once a decision is made, I contact the local news station and the team uses our mass communication system to send an email and text message, and post on social media. Additionally, they schedule a phone call to go out at 6 a.m. to alert families.

Based on community feedback, it is our practice to do our best not to make weather-related phone calls before 6 a.m. or after 9 p.m. This is why in some instances, you receive a text message and email before a phone call. I try my best to have a decision made as early as possible, however, the many variables that go into making the call can make that difficult. 

  • Delay Schedules and Letter Day Changes

In the event of a two-hour delay, the UPK program begins at 10:40 a.m. while K-5 begins at 9:55 a.m. and follows their regular schedules. There is no morning Questar program for high school students. Breakfast is not served. The middle/high school delay schedule can be found on our website and in the daily bulletin. 

In the event of a snow day, the middle/high school letter day calendar changes. For example, if Monday is an A Day and we have a snow day, when students return to school on Tuesday it will NOT be a B Day, it will be an A day. The calendar will be adjusted accordingly.

  • Drills at School

We have conducted a number of drills across the district since September, including multiple lockdown drills. As a reminder, lockdown drills are announced in the Spartan Snapshot the week before a scheduled drill. There is a section in the bottom right corner of each school page that indicates which drills, if any, will be conducted. If you’re curious about what drills look like, please watch our safety training video.

  • Making School More Safe

School safety is always evolving. In order to stay current, we’ve made a few changes this year.

We are working to install blinds with quick-release tabs on all classroom doors. These blinds can be initiated quickly during a lockdown to prevent someone in the hallway from seeing into the room. Additionally, we installed posters in non-instructional spaces across the district advising students and staff what to do if they’re not in class during a lockdown. 

A few years ago, we also changed the way we use text messages. Now, we only share important schedule and emergency communications via text message. We keep this line of communication reserved for urgent messages only, so people don’t unsubscribe from our texting system. It’s the best way we can ensure everyone receives our messages in an emergency. All other information is shared in the Spartan Snapshot, which is emailed home every Thursday at 6 p.m.

  • Why do we share so much about school safety? 

In years past, it was common practice to keep information about safety a secret. However, we now know that knowledge is power and it is far better to educate our community than keep people in the dark. For that reason, I will continue sharing quarterly safety updates as well as information on specific issues as they arise.

For more information about safety at Greenville, please visit our website at greenvillecsd.org/page/safety.

Related Posts